Splinter
Splinter is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles minifigure released in 2013. He is the sensei of the turtles. Appearance Splinter has a new head mould made for his figure. It has two brown ears sticking up with the insides being dark cream-coloured. His eyebrows are white as well as his beard and the bridge of his nose. The top of his head is black as well, as is his beard that stretches along each side of his face. Splinter's dark red torso piece has printing on both sides, with the front bearing a long collar and lapel that is bound up in a brown belt. The reverse side of the torso has the back of his belt and a black flower in a circle of the same colour. Instead of legs, Splinter has a sloping brick to depict a kimono. It is dark red with black flowers in a vertical pattern on the left side. Background 2012 Animated series Born in 1962 in the outskirts of Tokyo, Hamato Yoshi was heir to his father Yūta's place as leader of the peacekeeping Hamato Clan, whose conflict with the infamous Foot Clan came to an end when he was 2 years old. It was this victory that welcomed Oroku Saki, the Foot Clan leader Oroku Kaiji's infant son, into the Hamato family, and the two grew up as close brothers and very good friends, maintaining a peaceful intelect throughout their ninjutsu training. One day, however, their brotherhood suffered a huge strain when both men fell for a young woman of Chinese ancestry named Tang Shen, whose decision to marry Yoshi drove Saki into learning his true heritage and turn against the entire clan, corrupting few of it ninja into defecting as his first Foot ninja and attacking his adoptive brother in the house of Hamato. Their battle was long and hard. In their rage, they destroyed the Hamato clan Dojo, and Shredder accidentally caused the death of Tang Shen. Saki, now called the Shredder, moved to Tokyo, taking Yoshi's daughter Miwa with him and renaming her Karai. Believing his daughter to be dead, Yoshi, now an outcast called Splinter, moved to New York City to start a new life. One day, Hamato became lonely, living alone, so he bought four baby turtles at a pet store. On his way home, a man accidentally bumped into him. Hamato thought something was "off" about the person, so he decided to investigate. While listening to the man have a conversation with another one, he stepped on a rat, causing the men (who are later revealed to be disguised Kraang) to hear him. The men then fought Yoshi, and one of them dropped a canister of mutagen, which spilled. Yoshi lost balance during the fight, causing him to fall and drop the baby turtles. All 5 of them fell into the mutagen. Splinter mutated into a large humanoid rat because of his recent contact with one. The baby turtles became more humanoid and intelligent, due to having Splinter's human DNA on them prior to the mutation. Splinter raised the turtles as sons and trained them in the art of Ninjitsu as their sensei. Unfortunately, after the Turtles met April O'Neil and saved her from a Kraang plot, one of their shurikens was discovered and shown on the news, revealing to Shredder that his nemesis Splinter was still alive. Having already established operations in the city through his protege Chris Bradford, Shredder soon arrived himself seeking to eliminate Splinter. Splinter would remain in the Turtles' Lair during much of the ensuing conflict between the Foot Clan and the Turtles, as well as the Turtles' battles with the Kraang, typically only serving as an advisor. After April was abducted by the Shredder, however, Splinter emerged from the lair and confronted his old nemesis, only to learn the truth about his lost daughter. Faced with Miwa, who had been raised believing that Shredder was her father and that Splinter had murdered her mother, Splinter fled. Eventually Splinter revealed the truth about Karai to the Turtles to mixed reactions; Raph still refused to trust her while the others had hope to bring her to their side. Eventually Karai was convinced of the truth, and after being held prisoner by Shredder for a time was finally reunited with her father, only to be recaptured and then mutated into a mindless snake-human hybrid. Some time later, during the Kraang's second invasion of New York, Splinter faced Shredder in a battle with the aid of Leatherhead, only to be thrown into the sewer's depths, where he was rescued by Karai. Unfortunately, the experience left Splinter's mind and body separated, with his body behaving like a massive rate while his mind communicated with the Turtles. Eventually the Turtles and April were able to find him and restore him to normal. Splinter was eventually forced to face Karai, who had been brainwashed into once again believing that she was Shredder's daughter and that Splinter had killed her mother. Capturing the Turtles, she lured Splinter into a trap, and the two faced off after he dispatched Fishface and others protecting her. Using an ancient ninja healing technique, Splinter was able to free her from Shredder's control, only for her to flee the city prior to the Triceraton invasion. Faced with that alien menace, Splinter reluctantly formed an alliance with the Shredder in order to try and save the Earth, only to be murdered by Shredder during the ensuing battle. However, an alternate timeline created by the Turtles being taken into the past resulted in Splinter being warned about Shredder's treacherous attack and surviving it. Gallery of Variations Appearances * 79103 Turtle Lair Attack * 79117 Turtle Lair Invasion * 850838 Splinter Key Chain Notes * His head mold was created for him and is currently exclusive to him. * Though he is often seen using his tail in the show, his minifigure lacks a tail. Gallery Splinter back.jpg|Back printing CGI_Splinter.png|A CGI of Splinter Movie_splinter_lego.jpg|Fighting Shredder in set 79117 Category:Minifigures introduced in 2013 Category:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minifigures Category:Minifigures discontinued in 2014